Frank Thomas, Craig Biggio, Jack Morris and Greg Maddux all will be on the 2014 Hall of Fame ballot. (AP Photos)

Don't worry about next year, though. Several well-qualified candidates with no PED associations appear on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot for the first time in 2014. In addition, a few returnees stand a good chance of getting voted in.

Top first-time candidates

Greg Maddux: With 355 wins and four Cy Youngs to his credit, Maddux is a slam dunk first-ballot selection. He won't be unanimous (nobody ever is), but look for him to join Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken in getting 98 percent or more of the vote.

Tom Glavine: Glavine is like Maddux with a little less of everything — 305 wins instead of 355, two Cy Youngs instead of four. Still, Glavine's credentials are strong and he should join his long-time teammate on the stage in Cooperstown next year.

Frank Thomas: The Big Hurt presents an interesting case. He is well qualified by normal Hall standards (two MVPs, lifetime batting average of .301, 521 homers) and has never been associated with PEDs. In fact, Thomas has been an outspoken critic of their use and says PED users should be banned from the Hall. But the BBWAA so far has not been kind to sluggers of the 1990s, even when they have not been tied specifically to PED use (see Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza).

Mike Mussina: A strong candidate who eventually will be inducted. But with Maddux and Glavine (not to mention holdover Jack Morris) on the ballot, Mussina likely will fall short in 2014.

Top returnees (75 percent needed for election)

Craig Biggio (68.2 percent of the vote in 2013): It's not clear why the writers didn't elect Biggio in 2013. Being a members of the 3,000-hit club has been a ticket to first ballot election for decades (with the exception of PED-stained Rafael Palmeiro). But 68.2 percent is a high vote percentage for a first-year candidate, and Biggio will make the jump to 75 percent this year or next.

Jack Morris (67.7 percent): Morris will be on the BBWAA ballot for the final time. Normally, that would mean his election in 2014 would be all-but-certain given his 2013 vote total. But he made little progress in voting from 2012 to 2013, and the presence of Maddux and Glavine could hurt his candidacy.

Jeff Bagwell (59.6 percent): He made some progress in terms of vote percentage in 2013, his second year on the ballot. Bagwell's eventual induction is likely given that he's already at 60 percent of the vote, but he may fall short again in 2014.

Mike Piazza (57.8 percent): Piazza is the greatest hitting catcher of all-time, but he has been so dogged by PED rumors that he addressed the issue head on in his autobiography. Like Bagwell, his eventual induction is likely, but probably not next year.

Tim Raines (52.2 percent): In his fifth year of eligibility, Raines finally crossed the 50 percent threshold, so he is in good shape for eventual election.